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Ridged motor bracket / Idler assembly mod [Cyclone3000]

12-12-2018, 10:44 AM

I had a lot of “fun” figuring out how to mount my Cyclone3000 on my cycletruck.

I found a photo of a custom mounting on Endless-Sphere, and built one a little better, it holds the motor without any wobble. And the idler assembly took me several times to get it to work right. The first time the idler wheel was grinding against the motor's sprockets. And the long arm pushes up onto the motor if you don't use a spacer. Then I found pictures on ES that showed how the short arm should be switched places with the long arm. But I finally had to make new arms out of stronger aluminum that does not bend and brake, then moved the pivot bolt over to the left; I am still not satisfied with it.

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I had a whale of a time finding the right kind of wire connectors, so I must show you a few that you gotta look for. The usual high voltage XT90 connectors that come attached to silicone covered wire are very difficult to solder, [water resistant if you seal the back ends]. I finally had to use 8 awg Butt-Splice connectors with conductive grease inside and friction tape outside. But the ends of the million strand silicone covered wire needs to be tinned for any kind of connector. And if you are not an expert, you may need an expensive “resistance” soldering machine.

I used Bullet connectors on the phase wires and found out that the plastic covers are very difficult. So it's best to leave them off and use friction tape. Paste flux inside the bullets made soldering very easy if they were stuck into a hole in scrap wood.

Water proof connectors are very nice if you buy them with wires already connected. The polarized connectors are better than the light duty colorful ones. The Anderson connectors are high voltage but not water proof.

Search by wire size; I wasted a lot of money on eBay by not knowing what I was ordering.

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The last thing was the triple crank with Luna's heavy duty chain wheels 40t and 32t held together with round head 5mm x .80 pitch threads 25mm long [they fit the threads of the first chain wheel. The heads just barely fit under the crank arm.

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Working aluminum with hand tools like is like working a hard crisp wood without the grain. Hacksaw and new sharp files and possibly a drill press is all you need. And of course a vise to hold the 6061 aluminum while you file it. I learned a long time ago that machine tools are for production work, not for one-of-a-kind fabrication. I used to have a hand crank drill press and it worked OK for small holes. But hole saws need power.

I don't see how the large Cyclone motor can be made rock-steady with the small clamping system that I see in most of the photos. The cross tube is needed between the brackets [I used long enough carriage bolts to hold both mounting brackets together] even if you don't use the angle bars. Making very tight bolt holes could help, but then the fit becomes difficult.

I did not need any of the large hose clamps to hold the motor up to the frame, I just tightened the bottom bracket threaded lock rings until they held the motor from falling down. Having the right wrenches really helps.

If you can't replace all the bolts with stainless steel you should use anti-seize compound on the black steel bolts etc. It is better than plain grease because it has anti-rust metal powders in it [like zinc oxide].